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AN ADDRESS 


DELIVERED BEFORE THE 


TULLIPHOBOIAN SOCIETY 

O F 

ST. JOHN’S COLLEGE, 


jFreberick, lllarglanb, 

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By Z. COLLINS LEE, Esq. 

AT THEIR 

FIRST COLLEGIATE COMMENCEMENT, JULY 16th, 1850. 


BALTIMORE: 

PRINTED BY JOHN MURPHY & CO 

No. 178 MARKET STREET. 

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AN ADDRESS 


DELIVERED BEFORE THE 

TULL1PH0B0IAN SOCIETY 

O F 

ST. JOHN’S COLLEGE, 

jfreiieruk, Marglanfo, 

By Z. COLLINS L E*E , Esq. 

IP 

/ ? A T T H E I R 

FIRST COLLEGIATE COMMENCEMENT, JULY 10th, 1850. 



PRINTED BY JOHN MURPHY & CO. 

No. 178 MARKET STREET. 

1 8 5 0 . 









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Frederick, July 16, 1850. 

Dear Sir : 

The members of the Tulliphoboian Society of St. John’s College, Frederick, 
have desired us, in their behalf, to express to you their sincere thanks for the 
eloquent Address you have been kind enough to deliver before them this day, on 
the occasion of the First Collegiate Commencement of the Institution, and in 
their name to request from you a copy for publication. 

With great respect, we have the honor to be 
Your ob’t serv’ts, 

JAMES McSHERRY, 
JAMES C. MORGAN, 
FREDERICK NELSON. 

Z. Collins Lee, Esq. 


Frederick, July 17th, 1850. 

Gentlemen : 

I received your favor, requesting on behalf of the members of the Tullipho- 
boian Society of St. John’s College, a copy of the Address I had the honor to 
deliver before them yesterday. 

It is scarcely worthy of the occasion, or publication, but I commit it to them, 
as it was delivered, only as a sincere expression of the deep interest I feel in 
their prosperity, and the success of an Institution where piety and learning are 
so faithfully promoted. 

With great regard, I am your friend and ob’t serv’t, 

Z. COLLINS LEE. 

Messrs. James McSherry, James C. Morgan and Frederick Nelson. 


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ADDRESS. 


Gentlemen : 

I have yielded to your flattering invitation to be present and 
address the members of the Tulliphoboian Society on this, the first 
anniversary of St. John’s Literary Institution, from a wish to wit- 
ness the progress in letters and arts, which distinguish this beau- 
tiful inland city, the emporium of the rich valleys and cultivated 
mountains of Maryland. What traveller from another land, but 
would pause here, or upon the luxuriant summits of the Catoctin, 
and exclaim, “ Blessed are the people who inhabit such a country, 
for the fulness of the land is theirs.” And if he come from down- 
trodden Europe, how must he admire, if he does not envy, that 
civil and religious liberty which, here, like another sun, illumines 
your mountain tops and warms and brightens the bosoms of your 
native valleys ; but with what self-gratulation and pride shall I, an 
American and a Marylander, when before and around me burst 
upon the view this promised land, join yon, its possessors, in thank- 
ful praise to the great Giver of all good, that “ your lines have been 
cast in pleasant places,” and your inheritance established where 
freedom and religion shall flourish, so long as man shall have the 
spirit to be free and the virtue to be just. Temples of piety and 
institutions of learning are rising around you — the former raising 
the heart from objects of temporary interest, and fixing it on those 
of eternal hope, while the latter is informing the common mind 
and fitting it to discharge the duties of a citizen and a patriot. 

Lord Bacon has declared that “ knowledge is power,” and how 
true and transcendant is its influence — for standing armies and 
despotic sway are powerless and insignificant before that voice 
which proclaims, “Let there be light” — the light of intellectual 
and moral power — the only safe and impregnable bulwark of social 


6 


rights — the best defence of human freedom, teaching man his high 
obligations to God and his relative duties to society. 

Secluded from the noise and turmoils of the world, you are privi- 
leged to behold how the fruits of piety and love grow and ripen under 
the wings of female devotion and charity, and how the name of a pa- 
triot, whose epitaph cannot be written till Ireland is free, designates 
a spot near you where truth is guarded with vestal vigilance, and 
education promoted by unceasing effort, and where the youth and 
maidens of Maryland are guided in the paths of peace and honor.* 

Proud should you be, then, gentlemen, scholars of St. John’s, 
that you form a part of this system of public education in Mary- 
land ; and, here, under the auspices of reverend and learned men, 
whose success in your advancement is strikingly illustrated by the 
scenes of this anniversary, are preparing yourselves for the duties 
which are before you as Christians and citizens, and, I doubt not, 
you will gather from the associations and reflections of your 
academic life, high and generous resolves so to think and act 
here, that hereafter no regrets for wasted time or neglected oppor- 
tunities shall ever sadden your memories and hearts. 

Upon an occasion, therefore, like the present, topics of vivid in- 
terest crowd upon the mind and struggle for utterance, for in truth it 
may be said, that the times in which we live are stirring and porten- 
tous. The wonderful and irresistible progress of the age in all that 
concerns man’s physical and moral condition is amazing, and so 
rapid and novel are the inventions and improvements in social life, 
that ere we hail some new discovery, lo! another succeeds and sur- 
passes it. The bold and daring spirit of research and investiga- 
tion has already found out new modes of action, and opened new 
channels of thought, penetrating at once into the highest or low- 
est works of creation, measuring with accuracy the weights and 
orbits of every planet and sounding the unfathomable depths of 
ocean. “ Old things ” may be said to “ have passed away, and all 
things are becoming new.” 

Electricity and steam applied to human thoughts and motion, 
are spiriting , as it were, together far distant lands, and making 

those friends who, else, had been enemies forever. 

• 

"Swift as meditation or the thoughts of love,” 
we are borne onward by these wonderful agents, — and from the 

* JEmmittsburg. 


7 


Atlantic to the Gulf, human thoughts, like winged birds, are flying 
as rapidly and brightly as the lightnings of heaven. — The cha- 
riot of the sun, with fabled Phoebus’ steeds, which ancient poe- 
try celebrates ; the trump of fame far sounding, are slow and lag- 
gard, compared to the magnetic telegraph, which, indeed, aided 
by the printing press, and the cheap diffusion of knowledge, is 
now changing radically the whole frame-work of society. The 
statesman, the orator, the poet, and the divine, find, in an instant, 
their most beautiful and long studied sentiments, scarce uttered, 
at once recorded and made imperishable, a thousand miles from 
the lips which pronounced them. — And, ere long, the whispers of 
love and the low murmurings of young hearts to each other may 
be transported, in a moment, even with their own blushes, to the 
most distant regions; and, instead of slow and cold compliance 
or rejection, shocks will, indeed, be given or received between 
the beautiful and the brave. Who, then, that twenty years ago 
laughed with incredulity at such an agent as the electric tele- 
graph, can now tell when star-eyed science may not, upon un- 
tiring wing, reach to other spheres and connect them in thought 
and feeling with our own ? Is it not, then, most appropriate, gen- 
tlemen, that we should pause and meditate on our present and fu- 
ture condition as a people ? I shall, therefore, detain you with 
some crude and brief reflections on arts and letters operating on 
our social condition as American citizens in the nineteenth 
century. 

Scarce two hundred years have rolled away since the rock of 
Plymouth and the heights of Jamestown were pressed by our Pil- 
grim Fathers’ feet, and St. Mary’s, under the great Catholic 
founder of Maryland, consecrated to civil and religious freedom, 
now thirty commonwealths, to which, will soon be added, in her 
golden robes, California, the queen of the Pacific, may be seen 
united by a common bond and flourishing under one glorious ban- 
ner — crowded with more than twenty millions of freemen. What 
a spectacle for the world to gaze on ! What a cause of patriotic 
pride to us ! 

The May Flower, the Dove, and the Ark, laden with the seeds 
of religion and freedom, touched, then, with drooping sails, savage 
and inhospitable shores. Now, from the same strands, the moving 
palaces of steam and the countless ships of commerce depart and 
arrive, between cities of astonishing wealth and population. 


8 


How immeasurably interesting and important, then, become the 
duties which devolve on us as citizens and Christians in this won- 
derful era of civilisation, and how incalculably valuable the Union 
of that family of States, of which Maryland is an elder daughter. 

Whether we look to the north, with its industry and thrift, or to 
the south, opulent in the mimic snow of the cotton and the golden 
harvests of the rice fields, still ours must be regarded as one great 
whole, mutually dependent, and equally interested in the common 
glory, safety and permanency of a confederated Union — a vessel 
richly freighted with man’s best hopes, and destined to survive 
every storm while her crew is united and faithful — but it is to mo- 
ral, not physical influences, we must look for the safety of our 
system, and among these, I place in the van, religion and popular 
education, to which Maryland, to her honor, has recently directed 
her resources and energies. 

The differences which exist between the north and south, in moral 
culture, are not so much attributable to slavery, now the perilous 
topic of discussion, as to churches and school houses — to the larger 
support extended by individuals and state authority to the spread 
and diffusion of Christianity and knowledge. New England, very 
early in her career, established a broad and permanent system of 
common school education, and her example is now being followed 
by the middle and the southern States. 

To the zeal and efforts of minister and teachers, like those who 
have endowed this flourishing institution, is Maryland indebted for 
her present advance in this great work of teaching the young, 
which, though delayed formerly, is now, by the spirit of her rulers 
and the demand of her people, covering her with schools — where 
the poor “without money and without price” shall be made rich, 
the weak strong, and citizens reared for her support and defence. 

Who shall estimate the value of popular education in its direct 
and visible influence on personal and social rights — its promotion 
of virtue, its prevention of crime ! 

Look to any State of this Union and see its results. — In the great 
commonwealth of New York, from the recent official returns made 
to the secretary of State, it appears that of the convictions had in 
the courts of the State, for the last ten years, the whole number of 
persons returned as convicts in the counties and cities during that 
period was 27,949, of these 1,182 were reported as having received 
a common education, 414 as having a tolerably good education, 
















9 


and 128 only as well educated, — of the remaining 26,225, about 
half were able merely to read and write, the rest were destitute of 
any education whatever. And, as in New York, so in Maryland, 
we can only remedy the melancholy tendency to vice and crime, 
by affording to all common school education. Proud as we should 
be of our colleges and academies, accessable only to those whose 
parents have resources, yet prouder shall the destiny of our State 
become, when in every hamlet, upon every mountain and in every 
valley of Maryland, the free-school shall send forth its morning and 
evening lessons, and the songs and blessings of religion crown and 
consecrate the labors of the teachers. 

From the discovery of printing in 1444 by Laurentius Coster, of 
Harlasm, in Germany, to its last improvements of this century, there 
never has been such material and facilities for cheap education. 
That which was a mystery confined to a few, has become in our 
blessed country as general and free as the air. While the press, 
as connected with the publication of books and newspapers, is 
placing the literature of the Old and New World within the reach of 
all who can be taught to read, Maryland is not behind in the ad- 
vance of letters and art, for already there are establishments in her 
large city where publications are daily made, remarkable for ac- 
curacy and artistical success. 

But there is another and most powerful cause operating to en- 
lighten and enlarge the views of our people, who, when educated, 
shall, at the plough and over the anvil, be able, by means of the 
penny press of Maryland, to see and know the daily events and 
progress of our civil and social institutions. It has been scarcely 
fifteen years since, in your city of monuments, the private energy 
of a few young practical printers established a penny newspaper, 
which, from small beginnings, has grown and spread till in every 
house and almost every where you find it, with others of a like 
character, “ catching the manners living as they rise” and giving 
them, in print, and for one cent, to amuse or edify the laborer or the 
man of leisure — employing innumerable operatives, and spreading 
like the sun the rays of each morning’s light into the most retired 
places of the city and the country, — evils are inseperably con- 
nected with a free press, and often much which personal malice 
or political bitterness shall suggest, may find a too ready vehicle 
in its columns; but its benefits far outweigh its vices, “for error 
becomes harmless when reason is left free to combat it,” and the 
2 


10 


same channels which convey the poison provide the antidote. 
The penny newspaper of the country is doing much good ; public 
men and public measures are now distinctly before the people for 
discussion — for censure or praise. And if, by common schools 
and education, we can extend knowledge and religion, the press 
thus cheap and general can, even if immoral and unsound, do no 
harm. I will not longer dwell on this topic, referring to it only to 
indicate the new and powerful agencies which, in our land and 
age, are now at work for great good or great evil — for good, if we 
in our day perform faithfully our duties to each other and the 
country ; for evil, if we neglect them. 

American arts and literature is fast rising into distinction. The 
writings of Prescott in history, and of England in theology, are hon- 
orable to our age, while the touching poetry of Halleck, Bryant, and 
others not less gifted, have entwined around the doric columns of 
that literature garlands as fresh and beautiful as France or England 
has produced. 

While we stand unsurpassed before the world as first in the 
soundness, power and learning of true constitutional law, for Mar- 
shall, the historian of Washington and the expounder of the con- 
stitution has rendered that as immortal and perfect as his own 
great character. 

The foundation of American society in the north and south 
was originally laid deep in moral influences, and who, in this 
nineteenth century, in referring back to the first settlers of these 
States, can refrain from the utterance of grateful praise when re- 
curring to the heroic age of our fathers and contemplating the 
prosperity of their labors now enjoyed by us. Should we not, in- 
deed, exclaim with exultation: these! these were our forefathers ! 
and this! oh, this is our country! — an empire bounded in the 
wonderful future only by the limits of the human mind, for already 
her giant strides are fast upon the Pacific, and her luminous pro- 
gress is falling on the borders of Asia. 

The history of the confederation of the American Colonies, their 
Union and Declaration of Independence, their struggles and vic- 
tory, recently commemorated on a nation’s birth-day, are too re- 
cent to, be forgotten, too glorious to be obscured by time — they are 
the household goods of our fireside, and to-day we should turn to 
them in this hour of national peril, amid the raging storms of 
party, as the eye of the tempest-tossed mariner is raised in faith 


il 


and hope to that star which never sets, and gather encourage- 
ment and direction from the bright constellation which sur- 
rounds it. 

Our Fathers! how constant and how patient were their labors. 
They pursued their great work with a fidelity and ardor propor- 
tioned to its magnitude and difficulties. Through the long scenes of 
danger which they braved, of obstacles they encountered, of vexa- 
tions they submitted to, and privations they endured, they were 
sustained by the dignity of a sacred cause, and animated by the 
example of their immortal Washington. — Their zeal grew more 
deep, and their patriotism warmer, as the breath of the Olympic 
horses were said to take fire, and the chariot-wheels to kindle in 
proportion, as they neared the goal — they triumphed, and having 
finished the work of our national deliverance, pressed on to estab- 
lish and confirm civil liberty by a constitution and Union, which 
were the offsprings of anxious deliberations, of sharpened discus- 
sion, of mutual concession, and of common interests among the 
States, whose outlines had been written by the hand of God upon 
their hearts, and borne by Calvert and Penn to the new world, but 
with features as dimly anticipated by its authors, as are those of a 
first born infant to a mother’s hopes. 

“ Tantae molis erat Romanam 
Condere gentem.” 

Under their hands it soon glowed into perfect life and the full 
expression of regulated freedom expanded on its brow. Avoiding 
the restraints of power, and the dangers of licentiousness, the 
great work of Washington, Hamilton, and their compeers, came 
forth like some divine law, and, if not uttered from the burning 
mount and solemnized by the presence of Deity, yet bearing his 
sanction and breathing his wisdom and justice. No human code 
contains so many just and simple rules for the exercise of delegated 
power as the Constitution of the United States. The republic of 
Locke, the brilliant and beautiful theories of Chateaubriand, no- 
thing before or since can approach it in practical wisdom. It is a 
solid fabric, and will support the Union which adorns it. Why, it 
may be asked, have I turned from other topics to place your ad- 
miring gaze on this glorious monument of our fathers ? It is be- 
cause Maryland contributed largely to its formation, and the Ca- 
tholic pilgrims of Maryland are entitled to the honor of having first 


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12 


promulgated in America one of the most vital principles embraced 
in its spirit and letter, the liberty of the human conscience. 

Much of the refinement and taste of early American society, 
which distinguished the revolutionary epoch, (but which, I regret to 
say, is fading away in our generation,) was derived by them from 
their high and intrepid English ancestors. For, in looking back 
to the mother country, what brilliant scenes did they not behold. 
The eras preceding the settlement of the American continent, are 
indeed full of events and personages, whose manners and habits 
gave to English society a tone which was afterwards carried into 
the New World. — There was the group of which Elizabeth was the 
central figure. — That group which the last of the bards saw in 
vision from the top of Snowden encircling the Virgin Queen. 

“ Many a baron bold, 

And gorgeous dames, and statesmen old, 

In bearded majesty.” 

There was the dexterous Walsingham, the impetuous Oxford, 
the elegant Sackville, the all-accomplished Sydney : — Essex, the 
ornament of the court and of the camp — the model of chivalry — 
the munificent patron of genius, whom great virtues, great cou- 
rage, and great talents, the favor of his sovereign, the love of his 
countrymen, all that seemed to promise a happy and glorious 
life, led to an early and ignominious grave. — Raleigh, the soldier, 
the sailor, the courtier, the scholar, the orator, the poet, the histo- 
rian, and the philosopher; sometimes reviewing the Queen’s 
guards, sometimes giving chase to a Spanish galleon, then an- 
swering the chiefs of the country party in the House of Commons ; 
then again murmuring one of his sweet love songs too near the 
ears of her majesty’s maids of honor, and soon afterwards poring 
over the Talmud, or collating Polybius with Livy, or writing in a 
dungeon the history of the world. — These were the men of that 
splendid period, at whose head stood the prince of poets, and the 
prince of philosophers, who have made the Elizabethan age more 
glorious and important in the history of the human mind than 
the ages of Pericles or Augustus. It was from these fountains, 
in that and the succeeding century, that the settlers of America 
and the founders of our republic inherited that taste and refine- 
ment in life which was deeply impressed on the first American 
society. 


13 


The characters of Calvert, Washington and Franklin were 
moulded under the influences to which I have referred, and need 
we wonder, then, that when to these were added the blessings of 
civil and religious liberty, our country should have sprung forward, 
like Hercules from his cradle, to a destiny which neither European 
arts or arms, without civil and religious freedom, could for centu- 
ries attain. 

Wherever you turn your eyes from the earliest events of the 
Christian era down to the birth of Washington, there can be found 
no example of a free regulated government like ours, where per- 
fect equality and justice is secured to the governed. The great 
problem of man’s capacity for self-government had, it is true, 
been tried, but without success. England had proclaimed from 
the scaffold of Charles, a commonwealth, but Cromwell centred in 
his own person all the powers of king, lords and commons — it 
flourished for a time amid his armed puritan warriors, but perished 
the moment the Protector expired ; and from 1688 to 1732, re- 
publicanism was but the dream of a few noble and gifted spirits. 
Sidney and Hampden had fondly and vividly worshipped its image 
— a beau ideal of freedom over which they yearned with the love 
of patriots, while the dungeon and the block had not shaken their 
intrepid assertion of English liberty. The trial by jury, and the 
habeas corpus had, it is true, after revolution and bloodshed, been 
established, but still the great problem of human freedom was not 
solved. That wonderful and glorious solution was reserved for 
America, and was promulgated first here by Washington and his 
compatriots. It was practically, fully established ; founded on the 
capacity of the people to govern themselves, and recognizing the 
only sovereign power on earth to reside in, and emanate from, the 
popular will. Washington was the herald of glad tidings, “the 
voice of one crying in the wilderness,” preparing the way for a 
great civil millenium. — The division of legislative, judicial and 
executive powers, so as to give each its true and proper scope, 
and at the same time to preserve the harmony and independent 
efficiency of all, was the difficulty which for ages had baffled and 
puzzled the wisest statesmen. 

But our fathers, with Washington at their head, cut the Gor- 
dian knot, at first, with the sword, through a conflict of unparal- 
leled suffering and sacrifice, but of final triumph and glory, and 
severing the American colonies from the British crown, renounced 


14 

all allegiance to any power but that which was wielded by the 
people. 

The crown they recognized conferred no sovereignty — it was the 
laurel wreath placed by a grateful people on the patriot’s brow. 
The sceptre they bowed to was the voiceless ballot, by which an 
American citizen expresses his commands to the rulers of a free 
people. In a word, they established, as I have said, a govern- 
ment which secures life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Its 
foundations had been laid deep in a love of liberty, and it has risen 
a lofty and spotless column, high, high above all other monments 
of human government. 

Should you not, reverend teachers and gentlemen, then, task 
your utmost energies and instruct these, your pupils, the rising 
generation to study the Constitution, to understand its spirit, to 
maintain its legitimate powers, and to cling to it as the only bond 
of our Union and glory. It encountered, as all great efforts must, 
some opposition to its adoption, arising more from the fears that 
former republican efforts in the old world had caused, by their 
corruptions and downfall, but as the swords of Washington, 
Green, Knox, Hamilton and Howard had achieved the freedom it 
secured, so in debate and with the pen they maintained and en- 
forced its successful adoption. Hamilton, whom I have placed 
second to Washington alone, devoted the highest powers of the 
most gifted intellect, and of the largest statesmanship to the vindi- 
cation of the Constitution, in a work, gentlemen, which should be 
your guide whenever you are called to act — for the Federalist 
must be read by all who would understand the principles of our 
great Magna Charter. 

Alas, alas, our fathers are no more ! The sublime spirits of that 
age are with us only in their glorious deeds — the battle field and 
the hand of time have snatched all, nearly all. from the sight of the 
present generation — a lingering star or two yet hang upon our ho- 
rizon, shedding on us their mellow' lustre ; — soon they will set 
forever, unclouded to the last. Where are Washington, Hamilton, 
Jefferson, Marshall and Madison ? Their forms can no more be seen, 
but they can never die. The Father of his country sleeps amid the 
children of that land he liberated. — Those of you who have visited 
the Hero’s tomb, have looked upon the spot where he reposed 
after the storm of battle was over, and refreshed his spirit, and ele- 
vated his thoughts, — beside him was her, the chosen and beloved 


15 


consort and companion of his life, like him in the gentler attributes 
and graces of her sex, fitted to be the sharer of his glory and re- 
pose — all still remains, but the Patriot sleeps on the banks of the 
Potomac, by the side of his fond associate and exalted partner- 
wild flowers and the evergreen are blooming over them in token of 
the renewal and immortality of the glorious dead , and when sum- 
mer comes there birds sing sweetly, and like angels’ voices, tell of 
happiness, harmony and peace. 

Go, then, young gentlemen, ere you enter upon the stern du- 
ties of life, to that hallowed spot, and learn to be good and great. 
I said our fathers were no more, and those who have succeeded 
them are like shadows passing away. — Alas ! the emblems of public 
sorrow are yet announcing a nation’s grief; the mournful tones 
which yet echo through the land over the tomb of a patriot, tell us 
that the late head of our civil councils — our buckler in war — our 
friend in peace— -the chief magistrate of a great people, has gone 
from among us forever; but his name and services will be remem- 
bered so long as the admiration of mankind shall attend heroic 
virtues, generous affections and glorious deeds. — Zachary Taylor 
belongs now to history, whose recording pen must inscribe his 
eulogy. Called by the voice of his countrymen from his fields of 
victory to the highest office in their gift, he brought his sword 
bright and unspotted, and laying it on the altar of his country, re- 
ceived the civic wreath which Washington wore. — Scarcely a year 
ago he swore on that altar to preserve, protect and defend the 
Constitution ; and thus, while faithfully performing this patriotic 
pledge, has he, alas, in the moment of his country’s need been 
snatched away, — amid the assembled delegates of the States and 
the people has he fallen like some majestic oak of the forest, 
causing dismay and gloom to all around. — Possessing a strong and 
pure moral tone of character, he added also judgment, integrity, 
fortitude and benevolence, which exalted that character to perfect 
magnanimity and the truest wisdom. — But this faithful and blame- 
less patriot is no more — 

“ The will of Heaven is done, the struggle is o’er, 

And hope, that lingered long, deludes no more. 

But wafts his spirit on her wings away, 

From doubt and darkness to eternal day.” 

In his tomb may the animosities of party strife be buried, and 
fraternal love and affection fill every heart. The death of such a 


16 


man at such a time reminds me of what you will pardon the repe- 
tition, sentiments uttered by an American poet as applicable as they 
are true: 

“ What ! soared the old eagle to die at the sun ? 

Lies he stiff with dead wings at the goal he had won, 

No waning of fire, no quenching of ray, 

But rising, still rising when passing away; 

Farewell gallant eagle, thou art buried in light, 

God speed thee to Heaven — lost star of our night ! 

Death ! death in the white house ; ah ! seldom before 
Trod his skeleton-foot on the President’s floor. 

He is looked for in hovel and dreaded in hall, 

The king in his closet keeps hatchment and pall, 

The youth in his birth-place, the old man at home, 

Make clean from the hearthstone the path to the tomb ; 

But our President’s death fills the climax of story, 

He went with his old stride from glory to glory ; 

Lay his sword on his breast — there is no spot on its blade. 

In whose cankering breath his bright laurels will fade, 

’Twas the first to lead on at humanity’s call, 

It was staid by sweet mercy when glory was all ; 

As calm in her council as gallant in war, 

He fought for his country and not its hurrah — 

In the path of the hero with pity he trod, 

Let him pass with his sword to the presence of God. 

A star in our banner grown suddenly dim, 

Let us weep in our darkness, but weep not for him — 

Not for him who departing leaves millions in tears, 

Not for him who has died full of honors and years, 

Not for him who ascended fame’s ladder so high, 

From the round at the top he has step’d to the sky ; 

It is blessed to go when so ready to die.” 

How perfect and beautiful is our system of government. A 
chief magistrate is suddenly called away by death, and in a mo- 
ment we behold the machinery of our system accommodating it- 
self to the event ; no excitement, no civil or military eclat attends 
the advent to power of his successor. 

No revolution or popular convulsion follows an event which, in 
other less favored countries, would occasion violence and blood- 
shed ; but calmly, without parade, the citizen made second by con- 
stitutional provisions takes a simple, but sacred oath to preserve, 
protect and defend the Constitution, and at once, amid the repre- 
sentatives of the States and people, is clothed with the high and 
comprehensive duties of chief magistrate. 


17 


How noble and striking this simple exhibition of the innate 
power and self-moving capacity of a government which depends 
alone upon the people for its powers and support. 

The mantle of Taylor has fallen gracefully upon an American 
citizen — the son of a farmer — who, educated in the duties which 
mechanic art and manual labor require, has risen to become the 
civil ruler of the freest, greatest people upon earth. — Thus pointing 
out to all that high and upward path which can alone be success- 
fully trod by industry, patriotism and virtue. 

The great effort of the men of the age of Washington, to whom 
I have referred, was to found an empire depending for its own se- 
curity on the people who formed it. — No lords or aristocracy, no 
exclusive classes ; but one title could be bestowed by them, and 
that higher than all earthly titles — the title of a free American 
citizen . 

The stars of heraldry and the cloth of gold are with us as they 
placed them shining, emblazoned and undimmed on the banner 
of our Union, and spread out under the Heavens as the only sign 
under which to live, to conquer or die. If party spirit drives 
sometimes our bark upon the tempestuous billows, and clouds 
seem to overwhelm her, still, while that flag is on high and flies 
above us, the Constitution will weather every storm in safety. 
While, in the language of the immortal Washington, “we pre- 
serve an indissoluble Union of the States under one Federal head, 
and a sacred regard to public justice, and cultivate the prevalence 
of friendly and pacific dispositions among the people of the United 
States, which will induce them to forget their local prejudices and 
policies, and to make those mutual concessions which are requisite 
to the general prosperity, there will be no danger. — These (said 
that illustrious man) are the pillows on which the glories of our 
independency and national character must be supported. — Liberty 
is the basis, and whoever would dare sap the foundation or over- 
turn the structure, under whatever specious pretext he may at- 
tempt it, will merit the bitterest execration and the severest pun- 
ishment which can be inflicted by his injured country. 5 ’ 

How wise and how prophetic ! The excesses of faction and 
the mad ambition of public men, have in our day occasioned 
anxiety and alarm ; questions of temporary interest and of do- 
mestic concern are often magnified and enflamed by partizan 
demagogues, to carry a selfish purpose, or secure a party triumph, 

3 


18 


names of former renown are enlisted in the north and south, and 
the baleful voice of disunion is even heard muttering ill-omened 
and phrenzied threats against the Constitution and Union. But, 
gentlemen, be not dismayed, that Union is founded on a rock, 
against which the storm will spend its fury so long as you, and 
those that come after you, shall frown down and trample in the 
dust any and every public man from whose traitor lips the harsh 
word of disunion shall ever fall. 

They may amend or change the Constitution by its own provi- 
sions and in the forms prescribed, but quench and put out its light 
and 

I know not where is that Prometheian heat 
That can this light relume. 

The Constitution and Union, should be your only watchword, 
the north, the south, the east, and the west, are all equally inter- 
ested in the preservation of the Union, the offspring of common 
efforts, treasure and blood, it must be maintained now by a com- 
promise of all interests, and the sacrifice of every sectional pre- 
judice — with the Union and the Constitution, we can stand against 
the world in arms — without them 

“ None so poor as do us reverence.” 

During the life of the great Washington, he witnessed the fruits, 
though immature and fleeting, of our revolutionary example and 
his own splendid virtues. In England, he beheld a ministry like 
Lord North’s driven out of power, and the liberal principles of the 
elder Pitt in the ascendancy, representation and taxation were 
more nearly equalized, and restrictions on popular rights taken off. 
But more fearful, more bloody were the changes in France, “ our 
friend in peace, our ally in war,” scarcely had her gallant sons 
under La Fayette returned from their well fought fields in America, 
than bust forth in their own land the long suspended but terrific 
flame of civil revolution, terrific and sanguinary indeed it was, it 
passed over Europe like a wild tornado, sweeping away with all 
that was vicious, almost every thing that was useful— the Red Re- 
publicans of France carried on their work of ruin in a spirit of ven- 
geance and not of reform, and in striking down one tyrant to the 
dust raised up a thousand despots in the persons of ferocious and 
sanguinary Jacobins, more dangerous to liberty than the sceptre 
and the crown. 


19 


Thus in the age of Washington was enacted the noblest and 
most patriotic drama in human affairs in America, and in France 
the most startling and terrible tragedy the world had ever seen. 

The former vindicated the rights of man without crime and out- 
rage. The latter asserted human freedom, yet deluged the world 
with blood, and buried liberty and religion beneath the ruins of the 
very despotism which had oppressed them. 

From the one, rose the majestic form and glorious character of 
Washington, as the brightest living model of a citizen and a pa- 
triot. 

From the other, the warlike and imperial figure of Napoleon 
Bonaparte, as an example of human elevation, without patriotism 
and virtue. 

The conqueror of Europe and the captive of St. Helena, survived 
the Father of his Country, chained to his Prometheian rock, he ex- 
pired crownless and abandoned. 

Washington breathed his last upon the bosom of that beloved 
country he had redeemed, and closing his own eyes in peace, died 
as he had lived, without fear and without reproach. And although 
his bones repose not beneath the gorgeous Temple of the Invalids, 
and were borne with no imperial ceremonies to the tomb, yet they 
are canonized by a nation’s gratitude, and have a monument 
more enduring than the everlasting hills — that monument is the 
Constitution and Union of the United States, upon which I have 
briefly to-day endeavored to turn your admiring eyes. — Yes, gen- 
tlemen, while human hearts palpitate and the tongues of freemen 
can utter it, the name of our Washington will rally every true 
American citizen to their defence and support. 

In the late struggle of the French people, in vain did Lamartine 
pray for an European Washington.— He stands alone , as stands 
the glorious free government he has bequeathed to us. 

In your classic studies, many of you, gentlemen, doubtles, re- 
member the beautiful sentiments recorded of a heathen philoso- 
pher. The god-like Plato, as he was termed by his followers, gives 

in his writings a dialogue between Socrates and Alcibiades, which, 
though in the cold translation, is as beautiful as it is true . 

Socrates says to Alcibiades : 

“ If you wish public measures to be right and noble, virtue must 
be given by you to the citizens. 

Alcibiades replies : How could any one deny this ? 


20 


Socrates. Virtue is, therefore, that which is to be first possessed 
both by you and by every other person who would have direction 
and care, not only for himself, and things dear to himself, but for 
the state, and things dear to the state. 

Alcibiades. You speak truly. 

Socrates. To act justly and wisely, (both you and the state,) 
you must according to the will of God.” 

This embodies all, and more than modern philosophy has taught, 
without the light of Christianity, for the philosophy of Plato was 
unable to search out the holy mysteries of revealed religion. 

Let not, then, gentlemen, in your hands at least, this virtue of 
which Plato speaks, and Washington illustrated, be impaired or 
lost in the walks of private or public life. 

The times in which you are called to live and act are perilous 
and changing. The high tone of public virtue has been lowered 
too often in high places. 

The standard of a partizan leader is too often surrounded by 
selfish demagogues — this in some degree, is inseparable from a free 
government and a free press, where every man is a sovereign, and 
every scribbler thinks himself a statesman, but the remedy for it all 
is education and knowledge ;* let light shine upon the hovel of the 
emigrant and. the trapper — send the schoolmaster abroad, erect 
school houses and churches; excite and encourage the popular 
mind after information, and unfold in the pulpit, from the rostrum, 
and through the press, the principles of our government. Carry 
the people back to the age of Washington, and keep ever before 
them his example, his virtue and his wisdom. Then, indeed, will 
you have performed for this and future generations, a benefaction 
more enduring than conquests can give ; and upon every hill-top, 
and in every valley, shall be heard the hum of busy industry, and 
the songs of piety and patriotism. 

But I must close this brief and imperfect address, entitled if at 
all to your consideration, only as it is the sincere and earnest utter- 
ance of sentiments and views long entertained by one, who like 
you now looks back to a period when like you he was about to bid 
adieu to the bright days of boyhood in the groves of the academy, 
and enter upon the stern duties and responsibilities of manhood. 

The ready instincts of every heart before me, and the bright and 
beaming eyes that surround me, would seem silently but elo- 
quently to invoke for you a long future of honor, usefulness and 


21 


happiness. Upon your youthful minds impressions of piety and 
love of country have been made here, under the guardian care and 
fostering learning of the reverend teachers and ministers who pre- 
side over you. You need no models of human greatness from 
Greece or Rome. The splendid orator, whose name your society 
bears, may animate you, but your country furnishes models — 

“Your own brave o’erhanging firmament 
Is fretted with golden fires.” 

Turn, then, your admiring eyes upward to these bright constel- 
lations ; follow where they lead. 

Onward! upward ! are the watchwords of enterprize and ambi- 
tion of those who would be leaders, reformers, and benefactors in 
the nineteenth century. 

The spirit of true Christianity has been breathed upon you in 
these halls as pure as when it first breathed in the humble manger 
of Bethlehem, when it sealed its mission of mercy on the hill of 
Calvary, and when amid the splendid magnificence of heathen 
empires it had no temple on earth but the bosoms of its despised 
votaries. When you part, then, from its chosen ministers, carry 
this divine spirit with you as a lamp to your path and a guide to 
your feet. 

There will be scenes, too, encountered of a gentler nature, and 
ties created, I may hope, by many of you, in which, while your 
path is illumined by the ever burning light of that religion which 
has protected you here, your hearts shall feel, if they have not 
already felt, “ not the pangs of despised love,” but the generous af- 
fection and unselfish sympathy of these, the fairer and purer beings 
of our race. — Perhaps they and you will smile and bethink you of 
the fable of the fox, yet should I not breathe one word of that hap- 
piness which the reverend gentlemen around me and the church 
has consecrated as a sacrament. 

« For happy they, the happiest of their kind 
Whom gentler stars unite, and in one fate 
Their hearts, their fortunes, and their beings blend.” 

Cherish, then, I beseech you, these flowers which alone bloom 
over the rugged pathway of life, and you will then go forth full of 
hope. 

The world before you where to choose. 

And Providence your guide. 


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